Prep football: Carlsbad pummels Rio Rancho in first-round upset

RIO RANCHO — One week, you are playing for a district title, the next week, your season comes to a close. For Rio Rancho football, it’s the cold, hard truth.

In the biggest upset of the Class 6A playoffs so far, 11th-seeded Carlsbad (6-5) took down No. 6 Rio Rancho (6-5) 35-13 on Saturday afternoon.

What started as an underdog upset quickly turned into road domination. The runaway victory shocked many, but in the Cavemen’s eyes, they didn’t see it that way.

“For us, it was not much of an upset, even though it looks like it on paper because of the ranking,” Carlsbad senior Robert Castaneda said. “We were happy to get matched up against Rio Rancho, our mentality going in there was to play physical and fast.”

Carlsbad running back Brock Wright and quarterback Marley Muñoz were at the forefront of Saturday afternoon’s win, combining for over 100 yards rushing and multiple scores. The Cavemen had a plan, and stuck to it.

“Just to seal off 35 (Rio Rancho defensive end Jacari Smith), he’s good, he’s a great athlete,” Wright said. “Number one (Rio Rancho defensive back Quintenn McKinley) also, he’s pretty fast. But I feel like we stopped them both.”

Muñoz, the backup heading into the season, delivered against a solid Rams defense. Along with the run game, Muñoz threw for two touchdowns in a clean performance from the junior.

“(The win) means a lot to this team, especially since it’s been 15 years since we’ve won a playoff game,” he said. “We just never backed down.”

“We (Wright and Muñoz) just worked together really well,” Wright said. “In our second game of the season, our starting quarterback got hurt, and he stepped up, and it’s been a blessing for him to do what he’s doing.”

Through one quarter, it felt as if the Rams would evade the “trap game.” Backup quarterback Crew Victor, the eighth-grade fill-in for the injured Micah Takahashi, found receiver Parker Miller on a well-thrown ball to make it 6-0.

That is where the Ram positives would end. Victor suffered a leg injury on that opening drive, making it hard to plant and throw. Already down a quarterback, the Rams were now in panic mode.

Carlsbad capitalized, picking off Victor three times, one for an 80-yard pick-six by Castaneda.

Castaneda’s house call, after scoring a 60-yard receiving touchdown earlier, was the cherry on top of Carlsbad’s drought-ending victory.

Now, it’s on to a familiar foe in third-seeded Hobbs, an Eagles team that knocked off Carlsbad 31-13 a week ago.

“We just gotta keep on winning. We already faced them, so we know what they’re going to do,” Wright said. “We know what we’ve got to do. So we just have to capitalize on what we did wrong last week, to do it again this week.”

ALSO SATURDAY: In the 4A first round, No. 7 Grants beat No. 10 Silver 14-7, as the Pirates advanced to a quarterfinal game at Nusenda Community Stadium on Friday against No. 2 seed St. Pius. ... The 5A first round also came to a close, as No. 5 seed Goddard eliminated No. 12 Deming 35-14. The Rockets will play at fourth-seeded Lovington in the quarterfinals.